1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus including a carriage to which a recording head can be detachably attached.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,018 discusses an attach/detach mechanism for a carriage and a recording head in which a three-directional positioning reference for the recording head is provided on the carriage, and the recording head is positioned by urging the recording head with an elastic body.
In addition, recently, attempts have been made to establish networks by connecting personal computers to AV devices and household electric appliances. Accordingly, it is anticipated that there will be demand for printers that can be placed on racks, such as TV stands, similar to other AV devices.
In such a case, the printers must be structured such that all of the operations required for printing can be performed on the front side of the printer body. More specifically, it is necessary that operations of setting recording sheets before starting printing, taking out the recording sheets after printing, and replacing recording heads when ink runs out can be performed on the front side of the printer body.
An inkjet recording apparatus structured such that operations of setting recording sheets before starting printing and taking out the recording sheets after printing is discussed in U.S. Patent Application Publication Ser. No. 2003/138280.
However, the above-mentioned publication does not discuss the operation of replacing ink units or recording heads in the inkjet recording apparatus. In a typical inkjet recording apparatus, the operation of replacing the recording heads is performed manually, and a cover that opens wide is generally provided so that a user can easily access a carriage to replace the ink units or the recording heads. This type of cover generally opens in a region extending over the front and top sides of the apparatus and cannot be opened when the apparatus body is placed on a rack as described above.
Recording apparatuses in which only a recording head is mounted on a carriage and an ink tank is placed at a position where a user can easily access are also known. In such apparatus, the recording head is connected to the ink tank with an elastic tube so that ink can be supplied to the recording head. Although this type of apparatus can be structured such that the operation of replacing ink tanks can be performed on the front side, there are problems that the size and cost of the apparatus are increased since the tube must be connected to the carriage.